Because of A School Newspaper
by KangarooYoshi
Summary: Jack Kelly's whole life changed when he started his senior year, his girlfriend, Sarah, keeps dragging him into her feuds, he was forced to join the school newspaper, and he meets a shy yet insane photographer who may have captured his heart.
1. Chapter 1

KY: Okay, this is my Newsies story and I'll make one thing clear. I hate Sarah. There, I said it, however, all of my characters don't hate Sarah, only one does, the others just pretty much ignore her, even Jack doesn't hate Sarah after he breaks up with her (it's the other way around), the only newsies who hate her are Spot and Racetrack because in my mind, they seem like the most likely people to hate her, don't ask me why, it's just my slash filled mind that says so. This is a modern time story, meaning they all are in high school. This is one of three full length Newsies stories so far, the second one being the classic boys sent to the future and the third being the whole thing set in 1899, meaning the girls are newsies, too. Okay, I do not own Newsies or any of the characters or the school, which happens to be my sad excuse for a school, but I do own my characters. So enjoy!

"This sucks." Jackie looked through her camera at Vanessa, who was chewing thoughtfully on a pen,

"What sucks?" Vanessa turned to her friend, who was looking around the campus for a good shot,

"Jack Kelly has to join our group for the newspaper!" Jackie sighed as Vanessa pushed her camera down on the last word,

"Why?" Vanessa turned to glare at the jocks that were standing by the school entrance, the handsome quarterback, Jack Kelly aka Cowboy, standing there laughing along with his friends, Ryan Ballatt, Daniel Meyers, David Jacobs, Sean Conlon, Anthony Higgins, Chris Gourijan, Nick Lucero, and Patrick Caspary, better known as Blink, Mush, Walkin' Mouth, Spot, Racetrack, Skittery, Bumlets, and Snitch.

"He needed it to look better on his college application." Jackie followed her gaze and gave a reassuring smile,

"He can't be that bad." Vanessa faced the brunette, giving her an evil stare, which Jackie just smiled innocently to, so she turned around to one of her other friends,

"Can you believe that, Brooklyn?" The younger girl was still staring at her magazine and only responded when the senior yanked her headphones of her ears, the music blaring,

"Hey! What the bloody hell?" Vanessa glared at the British girl and then looked at her headphones with distaste,

"What the hell is this shitty music?" Brooklyn pouted, snatching her headphones back and placing them on her ears again, the music still blaring, making it easy for the others to hear,

"It isn't shit! This is Nirvana, better then your bloody Mandy Moore crap!" Jackie hid a smile behind her hand as Vanessa's cheeks puffed out, but another girl broke in before she could say anything,

"Hey, Brooklyn, chillax, Vanessa only listens to Mandy Moore because they could be twins and she likes to be in tune with her twin's music so she could pass for her." Vanessa glared at the girl, who was smirking like she had stolen some candy from a baby, and snarled,

"Shut up, Anna! No one asked you anyways!" Anna shrugged, casually slinging an arm over Vanessa's shoulder, making it extremely awkard since Vanessa was six inches taller then her, Anna being 5'4, but the junior didn't move her arm,

"Vanessa, don't be hating, we all know no one will ever mistake you for Mandy Moore once you open your mouth, since you suck at singing!" Brooklyn cracked up and Jackie snickered, even Vanessa cracked a smile. It was true, Vanessa may be good at many things, but singing wasn't one of them by a long shot. She was fine singing in a group, but solo? Dying cows in birth sounded like music to people's ears after hearing Vanessa singing by herself! Anna threw her older friend another cheeky smile,

"I guess we better go find some dying cows, huh?" That did it, the four started roaring with laughter and this attracted the attention of some of the other occupants of the schoolyard. That's right, our favorite modernized newboys! Jack squinted at them, unable to recognize them so he turned to his friends,

"You guys know who they are?" Spot looked at them, bored, and shook his head,

"No clue." Most of the other boys shrugged as well, but Mush nodded,

"That's Anna Bale, she's was in my gym class last year." Eight sets of eyes shot over to the group, watching the only blonde make wisecracks,

"Yeah, I heard about her, I've heard she's hilarious." David said and Mush rolled his eyes, David had heard things about people, but he never actually knew them, hence the name Walkin' Mouth. David turned to Jack,

"I'm surprised you don't know Anna, Jack." Jack looked at him with a questioning glance,

"Why?" David gestured to Sarah, Jack's girlfriend and David's sister, who was sitting with her cheerleader friends a little farther up the steps, glaring at Anna and the brunette beside her, over a huge piece of plaster on her face. Jack winced, looking at the two as well,

"She did that? Why is she glaring at that other girl then, too?" David sighed,

"No, Anna didn't do that. Anna's going out with Michael Jones, you know how Sarah is about Michael, so I thought you would hear her complaining about Anna. Brooklyn Kelsey, the brunette next to Anna, did that to Sarah." Jack rolled his eyes, Michael Jones was some college guy everyone knew due to his wild parties, half of the female population in their school liked him, but he wouldn't do anything with them since he had a girlfriend. Jack had been able to understand this, but two of his friends, Blink and Spot, could never get why he only stuck with one girl. But due to the shocked looks that this got, no one would of ever suspected Brooklyn Kelsey, who was even smaller then Anna, to be able to do that much damage,

"Why did she do that?" Spot asked, curiousity peaked and David opened his mouth to reply, paused, then shrugged,

"I have no clue." Jack gave a fake gasp,

"David Jacobs not knowing something about someone? For shame!" David's cheeks turned red for a second as he grumbled,

"I'll find out, though." As soon as he said that, the bell rang for students to come and start their first day of school, and the boys ran up the stairs, Jack wrapping his arm around Sarah's waist and kissing her head, turning his head as she did to glare at Brooklyn and Anna once more, Brooklyn gracing her with her lovely middle finger. Sarah turned around with a huff, but Jack's gaze lingered on another girl, whose head was bent over talking in low voices to the tallest, and when she looked up, she gave Jack a sweet smile and Jack gave a nervous smile back,

'Whoa, Kelly. You already have a girlfriend, no need to get nervous.' As he pushed the doors open, Jack Kelly began his senior year and this year would change his life and everyone around him.

Just because of a school newspaper.

KY: Sorry it was so short! But I'm not having a good day. Yesterday, my mom planned this huge party for Hanukkah at our temple, but she caught the flu and had to go home. I felt really bad for her since she worked her ass off for that party, so we stayed at the party. Then I couldn't sleep at all last night, which really sucked. Then when I came down this morning, after hearing people get up at 7:35, I heard my mom ask my dad if he wanted water, and I was thinking, 'Shit, Dad might have it, too!' He might, I don't know, but then as soon as I went near the stairs, I got really dizzy. I didn't fall down or throw up, but I sure feel like doing the second one. So, I'll try and update as soon as possible, but please don't complain about a short chapter. Please review or flame and thanks for reading!


	2. The Attack of the PMSing Lockers

KY: Okay, ignore any specific details in the last chapter, such as Anna's height and Skittery's last name. They are wrong, I was sick (yes, I ended up being sick) when I wrote this, so I got some things messed up because I could barely see the keyboard through my goo-covered eyes. I do not own Newsies or any of the characters, but I own my characters. Ta ta and enjoy!

What you just read happened over six years ago ago and now we, we being our little group of girls and the Newsies, as they were called when their leader joined the newspaper and then so did his little group. Believe it or not, our two little groups became friends and eventually more. We had invaded one of the oldest taboo in the whole Irving High history; popular kids never date nobodies. But we ignored it and I don't know who got it worse: us for loving them and that making our already messed up lifes even more screwed or them for loving us and entering our lives. David got this brilliant idea of writing a story about it so we decided to do it. I'll warn you, though. This story is not for the weak of heart, if you grimace at the mention of blood, drugs, abuse, sex, all that jazz, I suggest you go away...NOW. This isn't a story about the Happiest Little Elf...this is a story about a group of teens in a ghetto high school in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Remember the good old times when your mother would tell you the stories of true love and happy endings? Where everything was simple, all Prince Charming had to do was defeat an evil wizard, another prince, a king, or a dragon, and then he would get his fair damsel in distress. Or maybe he would even be engaged to a spoiled brat princess and then he would fall in love with a commoner, who turned out to be a real princess. I remember those times...except it wasn't my mother telling me the stories, or my father, it was always my nanny.

That's right. My nanny, who was named Maria. Maria wasn't the evil bitch nanny in stories, the ones who tried to steal the family riches or get the guy, and she wasn't the nanny who was so sweet that no one, not even the bratty princess could hate her. Maria was my 'mother' to put it lightly, she loved me like her own child, she was the one to comfort me when I got scared of the shadows in my oversized room, she wouldn't brush me off, calling me by my older sister's name, and she definately wouldn't laugh at me like my parents did. I may sound like a whiny little brat when I say this, but I never got any love from my parents.

It's hilarious really, I've had a pony, a huge dollhouse, everything a little girl could want, but I didn't have the love a child needed. It still hurts to hear my mother call me Janelle, my older sister's name, who is perfect in her eyes. I think the last time either one of them has called me by my name was when I was four years old and I had bitten Janelle on the wrist, which I am proud to say she still has a scar from. It was my father who had yelled my name with such fury, my mother didn't even bother calling me by my name. My father likes to treat me like shit while my mother decides to ignore me, which hurts more then being taunted, at least my father knew I existed.

I escaped them through my photography, which I had a gift at. I've heard baseball players describe the rush they feel when they hit a homerun, it may seem dorky, but I feel the same rush when I find a perfect shot and my photos all turn out fantastic. I also escaped my family through my favorite sport, which is swimming. I've been called modest many times before but I have to admit, I kick ass at swimming and my friends would agree. There's one last thing that keeps my mind off home.

I've been in love with Jack Kelly since the seventh grade. It all started when he made a comment in Social Studies that he wanted to move to Santa Fe where he could be reunited with his parents. I remember scornfully telling him Santa Fe wasn't that great, I didn't know this because I lived there, which I didn't, I knew this because I was forced to do a project with Sarah Jacobs about Santa Fe earlier in the year. Anyone else would of gotten offended, but Jack just gave me this crooked grin he gives everyone, including the little girl who liked to be mean because she had no friends aka me, and I got butterflies in my stomach. That's right, huge fucking monarch butterflies. He would talk to me from time to time and I always knew it was because he felt sorry for me. Well, that changed when my friend, Anna, moved back to Cincinnati from Brooklyn, where she had been sent to live with her aunt by her father. Anna and I connected quick because we weren't wanted by our family, so we could relate. Jack stopped talking to me after that, I guess he was satisfied that I had a friend so he didn't have to talk to me anymore.

I'm still madly in love with Jack Kelly and I will always be, even though I know it's not possible for me to ever get with him, because he's been going out with Sarah Jacobs for the past two years now and if I ever went out with him, which is impossible, my best friend, Vanessa Meyrick, would have some problems with him.

"Hey...are you even listening to me?" Speaking of the devil of a best friend, Vanessa was tapping me on the head. I smacked her hand off, taking one last look at Jack Kelly's backsi- erm...hair, before turning to look up at my brunette friend. Luckily, she hadn't seen me looking at Jack or else I would of gotten a huge lecture about how much of a dick he was and how I was pretty enough to find someone else because I would never have a chance with him. Aren't my friends sooooo nice? But Vanessa does have a point, I don't stand a chance.

"Sorry...what was that?" Vanessa made a disgruntled noise that was only reserved for her special friends, which included the eight of us. You're probably wondering why there were eight of us, nine including Vanessa, when I suppose you only met four of us before, well, it's because five of our little 'clique' live closer to Irving High, which is our school by the way. Which one am I? I can't tell you...yet. Why? Because it would ruin the suspense, dumbass! Though if you read the first chapter, you probably could of guessed who I was by now, but for the sake of those who haven't got it, don't spill.

"Jackie! Pay attention to me!" Okay...on second thought, it doesn't matter now, because I forgot that was when Vanessa started to yell at me. That's who I am, Jackie Gore and don't you dare make any Al Gore jokes, I can't stand them. Sorry, I'm usually a sweet and shy person but I'm PMSing so get over it! Anyways, Vanessa asked me what I had first bell, which just happened to be Journalism. Bah. I just happen to be the top photographer and article writer in the school newspaper, not bragging of course, but I worked my ass off to get there. Farther away from home I get, the better my life will be. Vanessa then went over the rest of my schedule and she erupted,

"We only have Band and Goverment together then next semester that I switch to Family Living and you go to Advanced Photography!" Vanessa may be my best friend...but she tends to get overemotional...very quickly. I find it extremely uncomfortable to be hugged by someone who is four (and a half!) inches taller then me. I'm all for lesbian couples but I find it very awkard to also find my head on Vanessa's headlights (headlights, I'm sooooo polite.) and of course, Brooklyn just happened to notice this.

"Hey, Vanessa, I don't think Jackie likes having her head in between your tits." Two random freshmen walking by snickered as Brooklyn said this, causing her head to whip around and if this was a cartoon (which it's not), her hazel eyes would be on fire,

"I said tits, oh my fucking God! Tits, tits, tits!" The two started to back away from the enraged midget as she continued yelling at them,

"Guess what? BOOBS! Better yet, BOOBIES!" With that they sprinted off and Brooklyn turned back to see us gaping at her,

"Wha? I hate immature people." Brooklyn stated as she began her trek upstairs where her locker was located. I guess I should warn you, though you probably already guessed, Brooklyn is mentally unstable...seriously, she's been diagnosed. I guess she's insane in a good sort of way...if there is one, because she always keeps us on our toes because you'll never know what she will do next and...well...she's Brooklyn! That is an excuse and you know it. Anywho (yes, I said anywho, bah to you if you don't like it), I went to my locker, which is luckily down here, where most of my classes are located. Some gloomy looking guy was opening the locker next to mine and I was opening my locker to put my beaten up backpack in there, and if you must know, it was cerulean colored, if you don't know what cerulean is, I suggest you look it up. So I had put my backpack in there and was struggling to reclaim my iPod (which is spiffy and blue.) when I decided God hates me. Why?

"Hey, Skitts." Jack Kelly's drawl entered my ears and I banged my head on the top of my locker,

"Shit!" Holding my head, I retreated out of my locker and was greeted with the stares of Jack Kelly and Skittery Goorjian. It figures my locker mate...person would happen to be one of Jack Kelly's best friends. This is why God hates me, you may find it funny, but I'm not the most stable person around guys I've liked, especially the one I've been in love with for five years, so right now I'm praying he'll go away. No such luck.

"Hey...are you okay?" God is laughing at me right now, pointing at me and laughing...I bet he snorts when he laughs. Obviously, God didn't like that too much because Jack Kelly was now examining my forehead, which I could see had developed a very nasty bruise. I noted how much he really had to bend down to examine it, since I was only 5'4 (and a half!) and he was about...6'2"?

"You should get some ice for that." Jack stated as Skittery closed his locker. I just gave a nervous smile,

'Maybe he'll go away when Skittery does.' I thought, but no such luck. Skittery waved (in a very gloomy way, I must add) and walked off, head bent down. I nodded to Jack and began walking off, I was going to be late for English...not that I really cared, no teacher, and I mean NO teacher cares if you're late on the first day. They assume it's because you are not adjusted to the schedule yet, but we all know it's because we can get away with it. I had put on my headphones and was selecting this one song I really like on my iPod, which I obviously found, by the way, when I felt a hand on my shoulder,

"Holy shitting moose, I know karate!" I shouted as I held my hands in a very karate way. I wasn't lying, I knew karate but I might have failed to mention I had only started last week after nearly getting robbed while visiting Brooklyn's neighborhood. (She lives in a fucking rich white Catholic neighborhood and she's Jewish...I'll leave it to you to figure out why I almost got robbed.) Jack lifted his hand off my shoulder, very quickly if I do say so myself,

"Whoa, calm down, I was just going to ask you where you were going." I opened my mouth, wanting to say something intelligent, since that is what I am, but it came out as,

"Nowhere." Jack's eyebrows shot up as he stood in front of me or should I say towered over me? I dunno, but whatever.

"Never heard of it. How about you forget about going to nowhere and go to the nurse's office to get some ice for your head? I'll even walk you down there since I'm not sure you'll go down there." Damn him to hell for being so nice, I had to get rid of him somehow or else I'd be making a bigger fool out of myself then I already had. So I opened my mouth again, ready to say some excuse,

"Okay." GAH! That was not what I had wanted to say, I wanted to say, 'No, I have radiation all over me! In fact, I bet you're going to lose your beautiful, silky, chestnut hair which I would love to run my fingers through!' That would of been bad but better then telling him it was okay, who knows what other...stuff I would of said! Jack smiled,

"Great, let's get going." Damn it to hell.

Jack's POV

Have you ever believed in love at first sight? I thought I did when I met Sarah at one of Spot's parties two years ago. I thought Sarah was all I ever needed, she was beautiful, good in bed, and wasn't an idiot like most of the other girls in my group. If I thought that was love at first sight, I must be blind. Sarah turned out to be bitchy and manipulative, just like the rest of her little cheerleader squad. I stayed with her because...I'm a guy...and well, guys...oh for God's sake, I need to have sex! But I'm too nice of a guy to take advantage of random girls and then never talk to them again and I don't hate Sarah, she can actually be nice when she wants to, but she's becoming really unbearable lately...Anyways, back to love at first sight. If you had read the last chapter (who wrote that anyways? I bet it was Blink, he can never sit still long enough to pay attention to the facts...), you read that I had eye contact with a certain girl and that made me nervous, me, Jack Kelly, nervous, how often does that happen?

"Jack...are you even listening to me?" Sarah whined, her lips pouting. I lost sight of the girl and turned to Sarah, a little peeved at her,

"Sorry? What did you say?" Sarah rolled her eyes and it looked very funny when she did it because of the plaster over her nose, but of course, everything looked funny now because of the plaster.

"What do you have first bell?" I took my crumpled schedule out of my pocket and I could barely read the first line because it was so faded out and so small but I managed to,

"Journalism." Sarah pouted again, obviously she didn't have that. She quickly snatched my schedule out of my hands and I can't stand when people take things right out of my hand, but she's my girlfriend so I won't say anything...much,

"Well, excuse you." I muttered as she skimmed over it and her expression became more distressed,

"We only have third, fourth, and fifth together!" Three bells with her? That's enough for me, don't get me wrong, Sarah's nice...on small doses. One bell would be enough with her, but three in a row? God hates me, there is no doubt about it. I walked to my locker, Sarah going on and on about the injustice of it all when suddenly she stopped, glaring at the person with the locker next to me.

"What are _you _ doing here?" Well, whoever it was, Sarah didn't like her very much, which came as a surprise. Sarah, despite how mean she could be, didn't dislike a lot of people. I put my beaten black packpack in my locker, closing it and turning to see Sarah was growling at.

"Oh, it's you. Come for another piece of plaster?" Brooklyn Kelsey growled as she slammed her locker shut, her headphones still positioned over her ears. I slipped away, I didn't want to get in between the two of them, Sarah looking like she wanted to kill Brooklyn and Brooklyn looking the same way at her.

'Now who else has Journalism...Skittery does...I think...I'll go ask him what bell he has it.' Skittery had a locker on the first floor, lucky bastard, while I had one upstairs, due to my lovely last name. Skittery had just gotten to his locker when I got to his and the locker next to his was open and I could see the lower body of a female sticking out of it and I presumed she was looking for something because what I had just wrote a few words earlier sounded very wrong.

"Hey, Skitts." I said, leaning against the locker on Skittery's other side. A loud bang was heard and a muffled groan was heard and a girl retreated out of the locker, holding her head,

"Shit!" She hissed as she rubbed her head, which already had a nasty looking bruise on it. When she turned around, I decided God loves me because it was the girl from this morning. On the other hand, she had a look on her face like she just saw a truck coming at her fullspeed.

"Hey...are you okay?" I asked as I walked towards her and briefly touching the bruise, wincing as she hissed at the contact. I noted I had to bend down to look at it since I almost a full foot taller then her and I also noted how she looked like she wanted to die.

"You should get some ice for that." Skittery closed his locker as I said that and he waited for a bit before catching the look in my eyes that said bye bye now, then he waved (in his usual gloomy way) and he walked off towards...I don't know, I didn't get a chance to ask him. The girl just gave me a nervous smile and began to walk off, not noticing me walking behind her. I took this time to survey her, she was about a couple of inches shorter then Sarah and had a younger look to her body, though she wasn't short of any curves. Her amber hair (that's right, I said amber) was pulled up in a high ponytail and the ends were considerable wavy. Before I continued my observations, I realized she wasn't going to the nurse's so I placed a hand on her shoulder to ask her where she was going when she flipped out,

"Holy shitting moose, I know karate!" I quickly stepped back as she made some weird karate moves, which I doubt were real ones. She was...odd, I decided as I defended myself, not using karate, though,

"Whoa, calm down, I was just going to ask you where you were going." She put down her hands, looking at me with a deer caught in the headlights kind of look,

"Nowhere." I snorted as my eyebrows shot up, somehow I didn't believe she was going nowhere, but wherever she was going, it wasn't to the nurse's office, which is where she should of been going,

"Never heard of it. How about you forget about going to nowhere and go to the nurse's office to get some ice for your head? I'll even walk you down there since I'm not sure you'll go down there." She didn't seem too fond of that idea and I briefly wondered if she had a phobia of nurses when she gave a quick, breathless,

"Okay." From the look of dread on her face, it looked like that wasn't what she wanted to say, but hey, who cares, at least I got her to go down to get her nasty bruise checked out, which happened to be turning all shades of purple and yellow, that locker must have been a bitch. I smiled, thinking about a PMSing locker...what?

"Great, let's get going." We began walking back from the way we came, because the nurse's office is on the other side of the building, upstairs for some odd reason. The bell rang as we reached the doorway of the stairs and I shrugged, giving her a cheerful smile,

"Oh, well. Guess I missed the start of Journalism." She looked up at me with wide eyes and I managed to pick out of her gibberish that came flying out of her mouth at a rapid speed,

"You have Journalism first bell?" I didn't notice much before due to her one word sentences, but her accent was heavily Australian and unlike other Australians I have met (and I have met a few), I could actually understand her because she didn't slur her words together as much.

"Yeah...do you?" A simple nod was all I got and I grinned at my luck,

"Can I see your schedule?" She hesitated before sliding a hand into her front pocket of her worn jeans, pulling out a neatly folded piece of blue paper and handed it took me, her metal bracelets clanking together as her arm moved. I looked down the schedule, surprised at how many classes we had together.

"We have first, second, third, and fourth together...also lunch." She got that look like she was about to die and I quickly stated,

"Hey, I'm not that bad. Besides, how did you get a blue schedule? I want one." I sounded like a little kid but it got her to smile and I that was when I fell in love with Jacquelyn Christine Gore...all because of her smile.

?'s POV

I hate school. I hate school so much that if you could burn something with hate, school would of been torched to the fiery pits of hell. Not that I believed in hell, of course, Jewish people don't believe in hell. Technically, I'm only half-Jewish because my dad is a big Catholic dick and my mom was the Jewish one, she converted to being Catholic when she married my idiot of a father, and then she died seven years later, when I was six. That doesn't have to do anything with my religion, but I had to squeeze it in there somehow. I used to be Catholic, too, but no offense to any of you Catholics out there, but the whole thing seemed kind of...well, _fake_ to me. Maybe it's because I watch Dogma every other day, but I never was a big fan of church, despite being forced to go every Sunday until I was seven, when Daddy Dearest shipped me off to Brooklyn after we just moved to Cincinnati, because my mother's death had such a negative impact on me that I became so misbehaved. At least that's what Gregory says, Gregory being my father. Everyone was saying, 'Oh you poor soul, having to deal with a rebellious seven year old! She doesn't treat you right.' And he would just sigh sadly, pretending to be struggling not to cry. Boo who, boo who.

Fucking bastard. Back to the Jewish thing before I start ranting about my bastard of a father. See, my dad sent me to my mom's sister, Rachel, who I actually like very much. She took me to temple one day and I decided to convert. Gregory blew a fit when he found out once he sent for me to come back when I was entering the eighth grade. The day he told me to come back was the first time he had talked to me since he had sent me there. Not very nice, is he?

You're probably wondering what happened to Jack and Jackie? Well, they show up later again, but we decided if they got a part, why shouldn't we get to tell our parts at that time? I mean, everyone thinks all because of a school newspaper and that Jack is mentioned mostly in the summary that this story is mostly about them? You're also probably wondering who the hell I am, but I can't tell you, you'll find out soon enough.

"Hey, Anna, what's up?" See? I told you, soon enough. I'm Anna Bale, no relation to Christian Bale as some people are stupid enough to ask if a man almost twice my age is either my brother or even worse, my son. Fucking retards. The girl who called my name is Kelsey White, a friend of our group. She's not as good friends with the rest of them, but she's like a sister to me and Brooklyn, who just happens to be my best friend. Makes sense, doesn't it? We're both insane and we have a smoking addiction. Back to Kelsey, she's short, and I mean short, she's 4'10" and is a freshman so I guess that sort of makes up for it. A lot of people wonder why we are best friends with a freshman when we're juniors, it's because I met Kelsey at therapy two years ago, Brooklyn was with me for support. I'll be glad to tell you I didn't tell that dick of a shrink anything about my life, I just sat there, glaring at the ceiling, because Brooklyn couldn't come in with me so I had no one to talk to. Needless to say, Gregory was mucho pissed offo. Yes, I meant to say offo, I say it like that, please attempt to not mind if you're a spelling freak.

"How was your break?" I asked Kelsey as we walked down the hall, my locker was at the front of the school but I had taken the back way in because I needed to talk to my little friend, Mr. Cancer stick. Heh. I crack myself up so much. Kelsey's locker is all the way on the top near the end of the second floor, which is lucky for her because majority of her classes are on the second floor, only two on the bottom. Kelsey gave a wavering smile,

"It was...alright." Okay, I may be blonde, but I am not dense, I could tell when one of my girls was lying,

"Spill." Kelsey's charade ended as Brooklyn's stride came to match with ours and Kelsey's big blue eyes started to glisten,

"They finally got divorced...and I have to live with my mom." Brooklyn and I winced, her father wasn't much better, but Kelsey's mother was a bitch and it didn't help that her soon-to-be stepdad is an asshole, too. Brooklyn gave her a stiff, one armed hug, I know that may seem so rude when one of your friends is in emotional trouble, but Brooklyn isn't too big with emotions, probably why she never had a boyfriend until...OW! Sorry, while I was writing that, Brooklyn started to hit me, saying about that I can't tell because it would ruin the surprise. Weirdo, but I guess she's right.

"You can always crash at my place." Brooklyn's house was probably one of the most comfortable houses in our group and most definatly the most comfortable of us three. Kelsey gave a teary smile,

"Thanks, but I don't want to intrude." Brooklyn's sigh of annoyance wasn't anything new in this kind of conversation,

"Look...my grandma loves you, thinks you're one of the most sane ones of my friends, don't know what she means by that." That brought a chuckle from my lips and a genuine grin on Kelsey's lips, our main group was...different. It was safe to say that much. I waved bye to Kelsey and Brooklyn as Kelsey went upstairs to her locker, while Brooklyn made her way to Spanish III, which I also have first bell. I'm in no hurry to get there, since my locker is just around the corner and down the hall from the Spanish room.

"Dumbass locker!" A male voice entered my ears and I turned to my right, seeing a blonde boy struggling to open his jammed locker. I grinned, it never fails for someone to get a really crappy locker,

"Need some help?" The blonde boy turned to me and I was now well aware of the brown eyepatch covering his left eye and he impatiently nodded,

"Yeah, that would be great." He stepped aside and I gave the locker a good kick...well, as good of a kick you can give a locker wearing the same neon orange converses you've been wearing since the ninth grade, but regardless of that, the locker swung open. The boy gave me a cheesy smile, the good kind of cheesy, the kind that makes you feel like smiling like a dumbass, too.

"Hey, thanks! I better get going to Spanish III, Mush might blow a casket if he gets stuck sitting next to someone else." I snorted, not very attractive, but I snorted anyways, I couldn't see Mush Meyers from my gym class last year having a fit.

"I couldn't see him doing that." I stated as I slammed my locker closed and began to walk next to him down the hallway. He chuckled,

"You'd be surprised, Mush can get mad over the smallest things." We walked in silence for a bit before he said,

"I'm Blink Ballatt." I smiled up (I always have to smile UP!) at him,

"I'm Anna Bale, though I guess you already knew me from Mush." From his surprised look, I knew I was right, I mean, I knew they were talking about us this morning by when we started laughing our fool heads off, I mean, who didn't know? They were staring right at us!

"So...I take it you have Spanish III now, since you are going in the same direction as me." Blink was a very observant boy, now wasn't he? But he was right. I wonder how many of his other friends were in his class? Going over the mental list Dedra (one of the girls you didn't meet last chapter) gave me one day about Jack Kelly and his group, she's a hopeless gossip and it might have helped that she went out with one of Jack's less best pals...what was his name...Dutchy? Yeah, but whatever, they broke up a while ago, but they still talk...a lot. Anyways, you people keep getting me off topic, I knew the seniors wouldn't be in there, Jack, Skittery, Snitch, and Bumlets and I knew from Indy (one of our little group you have once more not met yet, but is also a friend of Sarah's! TROUBLE!) that David Jacobs took German because Indy said Sarah had been bitching about it over break about her little brother being in the same German class as her so...yeah.

"Yay, Spanish." Blink muttered with a little 'yipee' finger motion (you know, when you spin your finger around? Forget it...) and we went inside. I didn't see Brooklyn standing up there with the rest of our class, in fact, I didn't see her at all. I mentally screamed as Blink made a face, we both knew what that meant.

"Assigned seats, that's right." Mrs. Loudermilk stood in front of us, her swelling stomach seemed to match her bigger grin, which was filled with unsaid words that screamed hell for us. I briefly heard Spot Conlon mutter,

"Oh, shit." Mrs. Loudermilk somehow heard him, but she didn't yell, instead her grin got bigger,

"Oh shit is right, Mr. Conlon." These are the times I wish I was in French.

Blink's POV

Somehow I got the only locker that was being a piece of shit and that is usually my luck. With lockers, of course, with anything else, I am extremely lucky in, especially when we're talking about females. I shared one last long kiss with my girl of the week...I guess girl of the month, now because I haven't really found a reason to dump Princess or Shanelle is her real name. Princess just happens to be a very attractive redhead with smoldering green eyes and full lips along with a very attractive body to boot (no pun intended). She happened to be on the cheerleading squad with Sarah, who you already know as Jack's girlfriend and is the co-captain, Angel, Spot's girlfriend and captain, Jasmine aka Alise, Cinderella aka Jennifer, Belle aka Madlyn, Snow White aka Cathy, Sleeping Beauty aka Cameron, and Ariel aka Stacy. I have no idea why half of them are named after Disney Princesses, but whatever.

"Blink, baby, I have to get to French soon." Princess murmured into my ear, lightly nipping my earlobe as she pulled away from my embrace. As she started walking down the hall, she turned around to wave and ran into another girl,

"Hey, watch it, klutz!" Princess growled as she glared at the other girl, who seemed to cower under her gaze. I don't blame her, if I was a girl, I'd be scared shitless of Princess, but then again, she is the only girl who makes me a little uneasy now. As the other girl muttered a hurried apology, she walked off in the same hurry her voice held, keeping her head down low. She lifted it up to see the time and my eyes made contact with brilliant blue eyes for a split second before her head went down again. I watched her back for a moment before trying, without any success, to open my locker.

"This sucks." I stated as I looked at my foe, surveying it with my right eye, considering since my left one is covered by a patch. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted freshmen giving me open-mouthed stares and whispering to their friends with awe and surprise. The corner of my lips turned up into a smile and I swung around, grinning like a mad man. I didn't like the fact that they were staring at me, it wasn't as if I had been blinded by my drunken father stabbing me in the eye with a bottle...though that's the type of thing he would do. I was born blind, thank you very much...but they didn't know that...time to have some fun,

"I lost my eye in this school." I started solemnly, freaking the extra small freshmen out,

"I was minding my own business when Mr. Boreing..." I was cut off by a skeptical looking girl,

"Mr. Boreing? The 9th grade Biology teacher?" Her friend quickly smacked her, telling her to shut up because they had Mr. Boreing. I glared at the girl,

"Yes...one day he just went psycho and started stabbing students all over the place. He got me in the eye and my friend Racetrack in the stomach." Racetrack had just happened to wander over, chewing on a lollypop stick since he couldn't have a cigarette near him in the school. He instantly knew what was going on,

"Oh, yeah, one girl died from blood loss when she was stabbed in the heart." Racetrack made a stabbing motion right over his heart and he succeeded in making two of the girls faint. Ms. Skeptical still wasn't convinced,

"Oh, yeah? How come they let him come back if he murdered someone?" This girl was really starting to piss me off, she wasn't the typical dumb freshman. Racetrack patted her on the head, which wasn't too difficult for him now since he grew to be 5'6" over the summer (but he's still the shortest out of all of us!),

"Because they didn't let it leak through, m'dear. They were afraid that it would ruin their reputation so they blamed the girl's death on drug overdose, so no one really knows when he'll flip out again." By some stroke of luck, Mr. Boreing happened to be down the hall and was waving something around, swearing rather heavily. The three girls (who hadn't fainted) screamed and dashed off, while the skeptical girl just rolled her eyes,

"Whatever you say." She muttered as she walked down after the group of girls. Racetrack waited until they were out of hearing distance before cracking up,

"Gets 'em everytime, Blink, everytime!" I rolled my eyes as I once more struggled to open my locker,

"So who did you get stuck next to?" Racetrack's grin grew wider as he patted himself on the back,

"Some hot blonde senior chick named Dedra Hannigan." I had heard Princess complain about how Dedra was always such a bitch to them, especially Belle, but somehow I doubted it.

"Well, I'll see you in Spanish." Racetrack called over his shoulder as he went around the corner, leaving me with my locker. I wasn't alone for long, however, as a small blonde girl began turning the combination of the locker next to mine and it popped open with ease, which I was extremely jealous about,

"Dumbass locker." A grin flashed out of the corner of my eye and I heard the girl next to me ask with a drawl much like Spot's, due to the accent or the fact she had attitude, I had no clue,

"Need some help?" I usually don't accept help from other people, I'll admit it, I'm stubborn, but I couldn't get this stupid bitch open so I guess I could make an exception,

"Yeah, that would be great." I moved out of the way as she delivered a swift kick to the locker door, which must of been pretty hard because despite her shoes being full of holes and duct taped in some places, the locker swung open. I shot her a grin, my usual cheesy grin, if you must know,

"Hey, thanks! I better get going to Spanish III, Mush might blow a casket if he gets stuck sitting next to someone else." She snorted and I knew why, no one could see sweet, naive Mush Meyers throwing a fit over something like that.

"I couldn't see him doing that." She slammed her locker shut and began to walk beside me.

"You'd be surprised, Mush can get mad over the smallest things." We walked in silence for a bit before I said,

"I'm Blink Ballatt." She smiled up at me, her green eyes filled with the same smile,

"I'm Anna Bale, though I guess you already knew me from Mush." I was surpised, but I assumed she had seen us staring at them this morning and that Mush had mentioned her being in his gym class last year. I didn't know why he didn't take summer gym, he was going to, but he made some excuse about football. Whatever, we all knew it was because Cinderella signed up for the last session, which was the one he would be taking. Mush couldn't stand Cinderella and I could see why when it came to her and terms of conversation, but when it came to looks, there was nothing wrong with her.

"So...I take it you have Spanish III now, since you are going in the same direction as me." Wow, Blink, way to be very observant, especially since she has written her schedule on her arm and it was in bold orange ink. Hm...I have first, second in second semester, and seventh with her. She nodded, raising her eyebrows as she looked at her schedule then at me. We reached the classroom door and I sighed,

"Yay, Spanish." I muttered with my little 'yipee' finger motion. You know, when you twirl your finger around? Nevermind... We walked in and I saw Spot, Mush, and Racetrack looking very pissed and standing in the front of the room. I felt my face twist up into a weird expression, showing my distaste for what was about to happen while Anna looked like she wanted to shoot our pregnant Spanish teacher, which would of been bad.

"Assigned seats, that's right." Mrs. Loudermilk's grin spelled hell for all of us and as I stood between Spot and Mush, I saw Spot scowl and then mutter,

"Oh, shit." I winced as Mrs. Loudermilk turned to him, she had superhearing, I know, I had her for Spanish II last year. I wondered how much trouble Spot would get in for this one, for he had her last year too and had made an enemy in her, but her response scared me more then usual,

"Oh shit is right, Mr. Conlon." I wish I was in French right now.

"Okay...first, we have Hannah Abbott." I snickered, not because her name was from Harry Potter, but because Anna was busy doing a little dance, which got more snickers (not the candy bar) from me as Mrs. Loudermilk called the next student,

"Alice Ackins." My eyes widened as I continued to watch Anna do her little dance...was she...yeah, she was doing a pelvic thrust as soon as Mrs. Loudermilk called,

"Mary Azure." Mrs. Loudermild looked at the next name and a sinister smile spread across her face once more,

"Anna Bale." Anna was still dancing when she got to her seat, much to Mrs. Loudermilk's distress. She hissed,

"Ryan Ballatt." I quickly corrected her,

"It's Blink." She shot me a evil look and I could of sworn when I went past her to sit down I heard her mutter,

"I'd like to make you not able to blink." Anna's dance had decreased as I sat down and I whispered to her,

"What was that about?" She grinned like a maniac,

"I'm near the back for once!" She was obviously refering to her last name and she obviously liked her spot because it was right next to the huge cabinet so she could lean against it. I'm too lazy to go through where are thirty students were sitting, so I'll tell you about us. Spot was sitting next to Anna, Racetrack was sitting next to me, Brooklyn (who had come in extremely late and mouth wide open) was sitting next to Spot, and Mush was sitting next to Racetrack. Don't ask me how that worked out, but hey, I'm not complaining!

"Tell me when the bell rings." Spot said as he pulled his hood up and flopped down on his desk. He was suffering a hangover from Michael Jones' party yesterday night, I had been there too, but I didn't get as wasted as Spot, who gets pretty wasted at parties. Racetrack snickered and began to poke Spot in the back of the head and I instantly knew it was a bad idea to have Race behind Spot...even though it would be entertaining.

"He have too much booze at Michael's party yesterday?" Brooklyn asked me, leaning back. I was puzzled at why she was leaning in such an uncomfortable position when I saw Mush was braiding her hair. Mush had almost convinced me he was gay last year, he never had a girlfriend, he never kissed anyone, so I had asked him last year, the conversation went something like this-

Me: Mush...you know you're my best friend and that will never change.

Mush: Um...okay...thanks?

Me: It will never change even if you are queer.

Mush: What the fuck! I ain't gay, fool! Okay...maybe he didn't say it in those words exactly but that's what it was like. I now know he is not gay because a few...seconds after that he confessed he had a crush. I watched him and her and I couldn't believe I missed it, Mush was smitten, he was a lovesick puppy.

I know Mush isn't gay, though nothing would be wrong with him if he was, because he is hopelessly in love with-

?'s POV

C'mon, you honestly think I would of let Blink blurt out who Mush ends up with? Pirate boy can't keep his mouth shut for a goddamn second. I bet you all want to kill me right now but too bad. You're also wondering how long this is going to be, so let me tell you, this will be one of longest ass things you'll ever read. This chapter is almost over, but we still have what, thirteen more of us to go? That's a long chapter, imagine if this shit was on printed paper, Indy would be having a fit because she's a goddamn hippie. Yes, I swear a lot, if you realized no one cares for you, you would swear a lot too. I know there are a lot of kids out there with no parents, but most of them are orphaned because their parents died or were sent to jail. Not my parents.

My parents left my sibilings and me in the middle of the coldest, wettest night in London, England for years to come. I was six then, my older brother was seven, my older sister was eight, my little brother was five, and my little sister was just a fucking baby, she broke the pattern, yes she did. We spent three weeks out in the streets and Becky, my baby sister, got really, really sick. She almost _died, _and that scared the piss out of us. Luckily, my grandparents found us and took us in and we got her help in time. She still gets sick now and then like everyone else, but she gets _really _sick.

"Fuck this shit!" I howled as I tried to weave through a crowd of senior boys, who all happened to be taller then me. One such mere parasite leered down at me,

"Hey sugar, you a new freshmen? Because I would of noticed you before." He licked his lips and my anger reached a new high, I hated being made fun of because of my height and I hated cocky perverts like him. So Mr. I-think-I-can-call-her-sugar found himself clutching his bloody nose and I found myself strutting through a crowd, which had parted to let the almighty Brooklyn Kelsey through. Yeah, that's right, I'm not going to make you guess who I am like the other two so far...I'll just tell you, but you already probably figured it out.

Let's get one thing straight. I don't get angry easily...you can stop laughing anytime now because it's true, I don't. It takes a lot for my virgin mind to get angry, like most of the time, I just give my usual cold glare and response to some dumbass trying to pick me up, but I can only take soooooo much of the shortness and pet names. Yes, I am a virgin, stop gaping now, just because over half of my friends has had sex doesn't mean I have! Of course, I'm not the only one but if I told you who else it was, they would hunt me down with sporks. I would personally not like my minions, the sporks, to be forced to poke my spleen out, so I'll keep quiet...but you'll find out...eventually. Muwhahahhaha! Okay, okay, Anna, stop shining the flashlight in my eyes, I turned out all the lights to get me in a mood to write and Anna was my flashlight person for the evil laugh sequence.

"Hey, Brooklyn." That's Marie, you haven't met her yet because she lives right around the corner from Irving because that's where the local vet's house is and both of her parents are vets. Explains all the animals in their actual house, and yet she still manages to be late to her first bell class on the first day...just like me. Now, if you want someone with a temper, go to Marie, though it shows through her cold attitude and harsh words. I guess the temper thing goes with the redhead thing. Marie is one of the many people who tower over me and if you must know, I am the shortest of all of us at 5'0" and Marie is half a foot taller then me which equals what? Six inches, very good!

"What do you have first bell?" She asked me, her Icelandic accent heavily effecting her words and how cool is that? How many people can say they know someone who was raised in Iceland until she was thirteen? Probably a fair amount but it's still cooler then saying you know a girl who has lived in England for the first thirteen years of her life. I looked at my schedule that I had written on my right arm in my scratchy handwriting, squinting a little to view the slightly faded crimson words,

"Erm...Spanish III." She looked at her own arm, where her schedule was written in neat and bold black ink,

"I have French with Christina." I snorted, I didn't see why Christina was taking French, she had lived there for her first thirteen years before moving here. But I guess she wanted to be in French so she could have a chance to actually show how smart she is and not be too shy to not say anything.

"I have Spanish with Anna...with Mrs. Loudermilk." Marie scowled as we walked down the hall, she never had Spanish, but she had met Mrs. Loudermilk at various times and didn't like her too much. This was the first year I had her, freshman year I had Mrs. Vargas then sophomore year I had Mr. Gonzalez, who kicked ass! Of course, I didn't just say that because he's only five inches taller then me, nope, he was actually really cool.

"Quick!" I hissed as I suddenly threw Marie against the wall,

"Ow! What the hell, you asni?" I had my hand over Marie's mouth as soon as she finished calling me an ass in Icelandic and hissed,

"Look around the corner!" We stuck our head around the corner and a freshmen walked by, staring at us weirdly. I knew how we must of looked from his eyes, a redhead wearing all black and a brunette wearing headphones around her neck were peering around the corner, me standing on my tiptoes because Marie was in front of me and Marie slouching down so I could see better, so our asses were sticking out. Marie's sapphire eyes widened as we continued looking at Jackie and Jack Kelly, who seemed to be in a heated discussion, Jackie holding a bag of ice over her forehead.

"Did you think you could just do that!" Jackie hissed to Jack, poking him in the chest with every word while holding onto the ice bag like it would fly away any second. Jack chuckled as he leaned against a locker,

"Do what?" Jackie gave an frustrated sigh as she leaned in closer to him, hissing again,

"You know what, Jack Kelly!" Jack leaned in very close to her and Marie grabbed my arm, her blue eyes bulging along with my hazel ones. Before we could hear anything, the office door opened and all four of us scattered, Marie going down the left hallway, me going down the right hallway, and Jack and Jackie went down the stairs. My sneakers slapped against the ground, red and black KangaROOs if you must know, as I sprinted down the hall to Spanish, knowing how much shit I was going to be in. I got there pretty fast, after all, I am a runner, and I slammed the door open, bangs in my eyes, breathing heavily and I had my whole class looking at me, Anna snickering.

"Nice of you to join us, Ms. Kelsey." Mrs. Loudermilk sneered as she pointed at a seat in front of a smiling tan boy while on my right was a boy with dirty blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, a smirk present on his face as his eyes laughed at me. I smirked back at him and he couldn't figure out why at first, but he would soon find out. The boy behind me grinned,

"Hi, I'm Mush." Friendly much? I turned around and found myself smiling a genuine smile, this guy's smile was contagious and he looked familiar...I'll figure it out. I was very bored as Mrs. Loudermilk went over the rules, so I let Mush braid my hair and out of the corner of my eye, I saw blue eyes beside me pull up his black hood and flop down on the desk, the grinning, Italian kid snickering as he harassed him. I looked over his head to catch the single green eye of Blink...who also looked very familiar,

"He have too much booze at Michael's party yesterday?" Blink sighed and nodded, giving me a weird look until he saw Mush braiding my hair, then he just rolled his eyes. I knew where I recognized Blink from now, he lives next door to me...just moved in last week, he hasn't been home a lot. I gave Mush a look, it was hard to since he kept glaring at me when I moved my head too much. I thought this kid was gay but I knew he wasn't because I knew who he had a massive crush on, me being the ADD kid so I pay attention to **_EVERYTHING_** around me. After he was done playing with my hair, I turned around and gave him a grin,

"I can pass a good word in for you to her." That was it, he choked on air. Blushing, he looked up at me with his big brown puppy dog eyes,

"I have no clue what you're talking about." I rolled my eyes at the ceiling, okay, if he wanted to be difficult, I'll be more blunt. I was about to talk again when Blink broke in,

"He doesn't know her name." I scoffed,

"You don't know her name? You've been crushing on her since the eighth grade and you haven't bothered to learn her name?" Blink's mouth dropped open as Mush squirmed uncomfortably under our gazes,

"That long! I thought only since last year!" I nearly died laughing on that, Blink wasn't very aware of what happened around him, but I had to give him credit, at least he knew. Mush said in a small voice, still blushing madly,

"What's her name?" I had to resist the urge to say 'Awwww!' I mean I hate it when people say it to me, he probably would too. I grinned and turned to the front of the room, where another student had walked in, holding a stack of papers. I waved her over,

"Hey, Cook, come here!" She walked over and I noted Mush's tan skin getting rapidly pale and his eyes were glued to his pencil permantly as she stood by my desk,

"What's up?" Was her casual tone, eyes straying around our little group, her accent surprising them, then of course, all the girls in our group, I noticed, have accents that surprise people. I smirked at Mush, who was looking at his hands with a newfound fascination,

"Cook, meet Mush Meyers. Mush Meyers, meet Cook." Mush looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him when her eyes met his and a smirk pulled on her lips as she crouched besides Mush's desk, a playful look in her eyes,

"Don't listen to this loser. Cook's my last name, the first name is Marie."

KY: I end it here! Muwhahaha! Poor Mush, Brooklyn's playing matchmaker between him and Marie. This one was longer to make up for the first chapter and I hope everyone enjoyed it. Now, we're going to play a little game, yay! Okay...if you don't want to, it's alright, but if you get this right, you get all your questions answered about the future of this story. Okay, you have to find the title, Because of a School Newspaper, in this chapter, that is what will happen. If you were the first one, you can send me an e-mail with all your questions, but you can only send me one so if you have another question you thought of after you send me the e-mail, you'll have to wait until next chapter to try again, I'll send you the answers e-mail wise as soon as I can. Also, this story may be updated less then usual because I don't have Study Hall anymore, I have to take Health now, so I won't have as much freetime on my hands. If anyone wants me to post the actresses that would play the girls, I know, dorky, but if you want to get a better image of them, I'll post the names on the review board if anyone wants me to.

Okay, review and flame if you must, but I hope you enjoyed the story!


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